This
conference seeks to explore the diverse and still largely unexplored role of
women during the Great Hunger. While many contemporary depictions of Ireland's
Great Hunger have been dominated by female imagery, the involvement of women in
other ways, including as landowners, relief-givers or providers for the family,
has received little attention. This conference asks: How did women experience
and shape the tragedy that unfolded in Ireland between 1845 and 1852, and how
does the Great Hunger compare with the experience of women in other famines?